Think Like an Archaeologist: Kid-Created Artifacts and a Mini-Excavation

As part of our year-long MYSTERIES unit in 4th-grade GT, we studied various sciences that solve mysteries and one was archaeology.

The book Hands-On Archaeology was very helpful, but way too comprehensive for the time we had to devote to this mini-unit, so we focused on big ideas, the language of the discipline, and methods archaeologists use to deal with unanswered questions– across disciplines.

In an effort to simulate a small-scale archaeological dig, I baked pieces of clay pots into chocolate brownie mix -a little crazy, I know! I wanted students to experience the mystery of archaeology, using clues to determine the meaning of what’s left behind, so I had to modify simulations and lessons I’d found. For this one, students create the artifacts that are broken, buried, and excavated. The final task is to piece together the artifacts and figure out what they reveal.

Here are some great resources for an archaeology mini-unit:

• This interactive pretest could be a great way to introduce the mini-unit.
• The American Museum of Natural History and Archaeology for Kids are two outstanding sources of information and activities for students.
• This peanut butter and jelly archaeology video demonstrates a fun way to introduce the concept of stratigraphy. All videos at this link are helpful for reinforcing concepts.
• In our studies, we also did a simulation of radio-carbon dating similar to the one found here.

THE SIMULATED DIG

STEP ONE: Have students create short stories or messages which can be shared through symbols or glyphs such as those found in the photo or HERE. In the Hands-On Archaeology book, there’s a very good page of symbols. Limit stories to three to five sentences written first in words – on slips of paper or small index cards. EXAMPLE: “At noon, we walked to the river and launched our canoe. We saw deer tracks but did not see or kill any. In the evening, a fierce storm flooded our camp and we ran to the nearby mountains.”

Once students have completed their writing, they convert their stories into picture form using only glyphs and draw them in pencil from left to right on a strip of paper that can be wound around a small clay pot. Collect the written form of each student’s story with the student’s name on the back. The drawn version is for students to refer to as they work on their pots.

STEP TWO: Have students redraw or paint their messages on small clay pots purchased from a hobby or craft store. Colored markers actually work just fine for this, and it’s best to begin at the top rim of the pot. Have students draw a double line or symbol to indicate the start of the message. If they go around the pot once and still have more to draw, they can continue beneath the rim.

STEP THREE: Place each pot in a quart-size baggy and seal. In a safe area, such as a corner of your garage or patio, tap the pots, one by one, with a hammer to create shards. I found that tapping near the widest part of the pot at the top FIRST worked best and two to three taps are usually enough to have several shards. Don’t worry if parts of the pot shatter into very small pieces and it’s okay if up to one-half of the pot is intact. You just need a few pieces of each pot to “bury.”

STEP FOUR: Prepare the “excavation sites.” You will need one box of brownie mix for every four students in the class. Follow directions for mixing and pour into square pans. Before baking, you will place a few shards in each quadrant of the brownie pans, burying them in the chocolate. I did not add the string (see photo) until later, so you can eyeball the quadrants. Remove just two or three shards from each baggy and bury them in the mix. The shards from the same pot can be in the same pan or in separate pans, as long as each brownie pan has two or three shards buried in each quadrant. Pieces should be no smaller than a U.S. quarter and not so large they take up half of the section.

Once 8 to 12 shards have been buried in each brownie pan (2-3 per quadrant), you can bake all of your pans at once by using both top and bottom racks in the oven. Some years, I had six pans in the oven; other years just four. I wish I could tell you which brownie mix works best. The less crumbly the baked brownies are, the better. Before Step Five, use string to create a grid over each pan.

STEP FIVE: Prepare for the simulated digs. Each student will need a wooden skewer or long toothpick, a plastic knife, a pencil, and a documentation sheet. Position students so that four students are each able to reach one quadrant of a brownie pan. You can do this outside on a patio or in your classroom, at tables or on the floor. You might want to place large paper or a tablecloth under each pan to catch crumbs and give students a place to put the shards they find. At some point, show students which direction is NORTH in your excavation area.

Have students follow the directions for both digging and documenting their finds. The goal is to document the location of the shards before digging and to extract them with as little damage as possible to the site. Obviously, depending on the consistency of the “soil,” it may be difficult to extract shards without making a mess.

STEP SIX: Clean and study the artifacts and attempt to reassemble the pots and determine the meanings of the glyphs. I was fortunate to have a sink in my classroom, so I just put a large bin in the sink and filled it with water. We let the shards soak in the bin while we cleaned up. I sometimes timed this with a lunch or recess break, so I had time to spread the shards out on our back table and wipe them with paper towels.

Then, pass one baggy of clean shards to each student. Students may recognize the pieces of their own pot; if that happens, just make a quick switch. At this point, students can begin reassembling the pots using regular school glue. As students see their pots coming together, or if they are missing a key piece, they can go to the back table to look for missing pieces. If they determine that the shards they’ve taken do not fit their pots, they should return them to the table.

I wish I had a photo of a reassembled pot! This photo is similar, but ours looked even more interesting because some of the pieces were darker than others.

STEP SEVEN: Once students have the majority of the pot reassembled, which usually took about 30 minutes or so, their next task was to decipher the glyphs to read the message on the pot!

I usually challenged them to figure out what they could without any help at first. Then, I passed out a page on which I’d typed all of the original messages. Students usually could figure out which message matched the one on the pot they’d reassembled.

Again, with our theme of MYSTERIES, my main goal was to introduce students to some of the tools and methods of various sciences, with an emphasis on how science is all about answering questions and solving mysteries. Oh, and my students never asked for brownies or any other treats! You may want to have something for them if you think digging in chocolate will cause them to crave a sweet treat!

I’d love to hear from you if you try this with your students! You can leave a comment below. Also, if you have additional resources or alternate excavation methods, we’d love to hear about them! Finally, I invite you to subscribe if you are a teacher of advanced or gifted students. This 4-minute video tour explains more about this website and blog!